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So, Rush Limbaugh resigned from ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown just four weeks into the NFL season. If you ask me, he was overrated from the start, and ESPN was just desirous for a slow, fat, white, conservative pundit to have success … In the days following his racially tinged comments regarding Eagles’ QB Donovan McNabb being overrated, Limbaugh declined interview requests, including a request to appear on ESPN’s SportsCenter. All these years, and we’ve only now found a way to get him to clam up? * * * Turns out Lance is overrated, too. Those five Tour wins were just the U.S. media hyping

The parent company of Cannondale Corporation has sacked three vice presidents, including the son of the company’s founder, according to the trade journal Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. Those dismissed Wednesday by majority stockholder Pegasus Capital Advisers include Scott Montgomery, vice president of marketing and son of Cannondale founder Joe Montgomery; Dan Alloway, vice president of sales and a 15-year Cannondale employee; and Len Konecny, vice president of purchasing, according to the trade journal. Attempts to contact Scott Montgomery were unsuccessful. Cannondale's Tom Armstrong

No Zolder repeat for Mario

With the mountain biking season all but done and the “silly” season yetto fully ramp up, things are pretty quiet in the fat-tire world. Of coursethere was last weekend’s Tour de Dewey here in Boulder, Colorado, but forthe most part I’ve been sworn to secrecy on that one, except to say thatwhen they put their minds to it, some of America’s top cross-country proscan sure throw down the beers. Things will get rolling again in earnest in two weeks when the cyclingworld descends on Las Vegas for the Interbike Trade Show. Expect lots ofteam/rider news and look for the unveiling of the 2003 NORBA

Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani has been cleared of sporting fraud for a case of doping during the 1999 Giro d’Italia, by a court in Trentino on Thursday. Pantani was charged after high hematocrit levels were found in his blood on the penultimate day of the 1999 Giro d’Italia. The hematocrit limit was imposed in 1997 as an indicator that a rider might be using the endurance-enhancing drug EPO. The Italian, winner of both the Giro and Tour de France in 1998, had already served a six-month ban for his failed drugs test but faced prosecution charges as doping in Italy is a criminal

Dear Bob,My local cycling club posted a notice on its website that a chain ofradio stations was instructing their disc jockeys to tell listeners tothreaten cyclists or do violence against them. Do you know anything aboutthis, and can anyone do anything to stop them?R.B.,Texas Dear R.B.On September 22 and 23, two DJs on a morning show on radio stationWDCG ("G105") inRaleigh, North Carolina, held a listener call-in where listeners were encouraged to relate violent activities they participated in against cyclists, including running them off the road, hitting them with cars or throwing objects

Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani has been cleared of sporting fraud for a case of doping during the 1999 Giro d’Italia, by a court in Trentino on Thursday. Pantani was charged after high hematocrit levels were found in his blood on the penultimate day of the 1999 Giro d’Italia. The hematocrit limit was imposed in 1997 as an indicator that a rider might be using the endurance-enhancing drug EPO. The Italian, winner of both the Giro and Tour de France in 1998, had already served a six-month ban for his failed drugs test but faced prosecution charges as doping in Italy is a criminal

MTB News and Notes: Bon Jovi in, Green out

Pantani cleared of criminal charge

The collision of two mega-events is quickly approaching. No need to uncoverthe ol’ bomb shelter in the backyard, just be on the lookout for the avalancheof cycling news about to come hurtling your way. Yep, early October is approaching and both the 2003 World Road Championships(“world’s” for those of you about to jump all over my inclusion of anapostrophe in the title) in Hamilton, Ontario, and Las Vegas's 2003Interbike trade show are coming up on the same weekend. If you’re not ableto attend either, your best bet to get the latest news is right here atVeloNews.com (as well as the print

Thanks, thanks, yes, it’s good to be back. You may have noticed — or not, as the case may be — that the “Neighborhood’ has been on hold for the past few weeks while I took an almost perfect vacation in my previous hometowns of San Francisco and Santa Cruz following the T-Mobile International, September 14. The week after the race was spent in a flurry of cab rides, cocktail napkins and late breakfasts, as any good city vacation should — the kind you enjoy but afterwards wonder how you could ever possibly maintain. All that came to a screeching halt last Tuesday when I returned to an

Dear Monique;I wanted to learn more about how quickly I can rehydrate once I'vebecome dehydrated. I'm more concerned with how long before a workout orrace, I need to start to get my cells fully replenished. An example mightinclude a scenario where an athlete had some wine with dinner the nightbefore and coffee in the morning. At what rate does the body absorb waterand re-hydrate and replace the water used and lost from processing thealcohol and caffeine?Thanks for your helpJCDear JC;That's an interesting question. In matters of dehydration, it is bestnot to fall too far behind, as there is

Just where Jan Ullrich will ride next season is still unknown, but his chances of returning to Telekom took a blow this week when peace-making efforts between Rudy Pevenage and Walter Godefroot fell a bit short of the mark. Godefroot has refused to allow Pevenage to return with Ullrich to Telekom (next year to be called T-Mobile), but Ullrich’s manager said Wednesday the door remains open. “Ullrich’s return remains an option,” said Wolfgang Strohband, Ullrich’s manager who’s leading the negotiations. “Maybe we have to find another solution for Pevenage. What that could exactly be, we don’t

Olympic and world champion Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel established a new world women's hour record at the Olympic velodrome in Mexico City on Wednesday, covering 46.065km in an hour, surpassing the earlier record of 45.094km set by Jeannie Longo on the same track in December of 2000. Cycling's world governing body, the UCI, originally credited Zijlaard-Van Moorsel with a distance of 46.397km but officials later said that there had been a measurement error. The 33-year-old Dutchwoman, who is fresh from defending her individual pursuit title at the world track championships in Stuttgart in

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That's a lotta racks...

With three power settings and built-in fuel gauge, the FlameThower might be the most technical bike light ever produced

Endless Summer: Do you think the Aussie locals are going to let this guy drop in on them?

Ullrich: Where to now?

Celebrating the new mark

Now, that, my friend, is style: JHK and Heather Irminger

Mr. Rogers' neighborhood: It's Good to be Here

Berlinger (left) and Clinton earning their pay

Vinokourov: 'There are hills in this race?'

Shoot, this California native could probably run for Governor

More than 3000 people turned out in Béjar, Spain, to give Roberto Heras a hero’s welcome Tuesday after he returned to his hometown following his dramatic victory in the 58th Vuelta a España. The city’s fathers are considering naming a city street after the two-time Vuelta champion. His mother, wife and daughter joined Heras as he toasted his fans from the city hall balcony. He dedicated his victory to his father, who died in May from cancer. The U.S. Postal Service celebrated Heras’s victory with a team dinner at a popular restaurant in Madrid on Sunday night. Five-time Tour de France

The United States Anti-Doping Agency has announced the suspensions of two cyclists this week, a track racer who tested for an elevated testosterone-epitestosterone ratio and a former world masters downhill champion who tested positive for the presence of THC. USADA announced Tuesday that Chesen Frey, 29, accepted a two-year suspension after tests conducted at the American Velodrome Challenge in his home town of Colorado Springs in June showed an elevated T/E ratio. USADA and other proponents of the test say the result is an indication of the use of exogenous testosterone, a practice banned

Heras in Madrid

Gimondi at last October's Tour de France route announcement

U.S. Postal's Roberto Heras has dropped in the world cycling rankings released Monday despite clinching his second Vuelta a España title this past weekend. Heras, who also won the 2000 Vuelta, dropped from 19th to 25th spot because the world rankings take into account the number of days spent leading the event. As a result, Heras earned fewer UCI points than he did last year when he finished runner-up because he held the leader’s jersey for less time. By contrast, Spain's Isidro Nozal (ONCE), who finished second this year despite leading until the final day, jumped from 303rd to 19th

After three weeks of racing, thousands of kilometers, climbs and time trials Roberto came out on top and won in the final hours. In an uphill time trial of 11 kilometers, he achieved what most thought was impossible: overcoming what was nearly a two-minute deficit. Hoping against hopeGoing into Saturday’s time trial we thought he had a slim chance of beating Nozal. For Roberto to win the Vuelta, Nozal would have to have a bad day and he would need a great day. All of us on the team were dreaming that it would happen but nobody would say they thought it was possible for the fear they would

Last week, you saw some of the new things from the Milan bike show, whichis primarily a fantastic display of road bikes, surrounded by a massivemotorcycle show. While most of the two-wheeled enthusiasts attending theshow are there to ogle bikes with motors, there is still plentyof passion in Italy for the human-powered bikes side as well. The movement toward making more and more elements of the high-end bicycleout of carbon continues unabated. Now, however, you see an increasing useof highly reflective white carbon (it actually looks more silver than white)and systems for damping the

We were all hoping, but no one wanted to say it was possible.

Manolo Saiz

Dede and me in Madrid

It's not all motors in Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

More goodies from Milan

For the second time in two months, U.S. Postal Service was celebrating victory in one of cycling's major stage races. Just eight weeks after Lance Armstrong won his record-tying fifth Tour de France, Roberto Heras rolled through Sunday's 148.5km finale into Madrid to claim his second career Vuelta title. "We never gave up fighting and made up time little by little and we were finally able to make up the difference," said Heras, who erased a 5 minute, 13 second difference to Isidro Nozal (ONCE) after the second time trial at Albacete. "This Vuelta victory means more to me than the first one

Moments after the taking second place overall in the Vuelta a España, Isidro Nozal said he's already thinking about the world championships. "I'm ending this Vuelta a little bit tired, but after a few days of rest I will be very motivated for the worlds," said Nozal, who will race in the time trial. "After my successes here in the time trials I think I will have good chances to earn a medal." Nozal won both of the Vuelta's longer time trials, relegating David Millar (Cofidis) into second both times. The pair is sure to duel again in Hamilton. Petacchi to end season at Paris-Tours

Slow ride to Madrid; Heras takes time to raise a toast to Nozal (l) and Valverde (r)

Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) delivered the time trial of his life to win Saturday's penultimate stage of the Vuelta a España and vaulted into the overall lead after erasing a seemingly insurmountable gap to Isidro Nozal (ONCE). A year after losing the 2002 edition on a final-day time trial, Heras is about to claim his second career Vuelta title after obliterating Nozal's lead of 1 minute, 55 seconds, in an emotional victory that puts him 28 seconds into the race leader's golden jersey with one stage to go. "I wanted to win the stage but instead we saw a miracle," said Heras, who won

Fred Rodriguez (Caldirola-Duval) has left the door open for a possible start at the October road world championships. Earlier this month, Rodriguez told U.S. national team coach Jim Ochowicz he wasn't interested in racing in Hamilton, but has since changed his mind after finding his legs in the second half of the Vuelta a España. "Ochowicz needed to know by September 15 and at that point I thought I needed to shut it down. But I'm feeling better now and I told George (Hincapie) if he needs me, if he feels like the team isn't strong enough, to give me a call," Rodriguez told VeloNews before

Heras puts the hammer down

Nozal finally cracks

Valverde races his way onto the podium

Still in shock: Heras on the podium

Cardenas

Roberto Heras (U.S. Postal Service) pumped some excitement into the Vuelta a España, perhaps making things a little too exciting for race leader Isidro Nozal (ONCE). Heras charged up the Category 1 Alto de Navacerrada and quickly put Nozal into trouble in the 164km 19th stage. Luckily for Nozal, it was a long 23km back down to the finish line in Collado Villalba and Heras could only reduce the gap to 1 minute, 55 seconds going into Saturday’s decisive climbing time trial at Abantos. “The time that I got back from Nozal was okay considering the circumstances, but ONCE was able to make the

Editor’s note: Six months ago, Rob Jones, editor of Canadian Cyclist, issued a report card on the world road championships scheduled October 6-12 in Hamilton, Ontario, assigning an overall grade of B-minus. With the world’s just two weeks off, Jones decided it was time to re-examine Hamilton 2003, and his evaluation follows below. He’ll issue a final grade after the event ends. Course: A-plus (previously an A) The course was used for the Canadian road national championships in June, attracting a number of foreign riders, and produced the most exciting racing in recent memory for a

Australian Stuart O'Grady, former Tour de France leader and gold medalist in the 2002 Commonwealth Games road race, has signed for top French team Cofidis. O'Grady, 30, wore the yellow jersey of the Tour in 1998 and 2001, winning a Tour stage to Grenoble in 1998. This year he took third in the Tour of Flanders, the best finish for an Australian in the prestigious one-day event since Phil Anderson was second in 1988. "We will be concentrating on the Belgian classics with Stuart," team manager Francis Van Londersele told Reuters. "Then after that, perhaps the green jersey or perhaps stages

The U.S. Cycling Federation’s 2004 Elite National Road Championships, to be held June 16-19 in and around Redlands, California, will determine three members of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, USA Cycling announced Friday. Nominations will go to the winners of the elite women's time trial and road race, and to the winner of the USA Cycling Team Selection Race, an invitational with a field limited to the top 150 U.S. athletes in the USCF National Racing Calendar standings as of June 1; the top 50 U.S. athletes in the UCI road rankings on that date; and the top five U.S. finishers in the Armed

With the recent announcement that Saturn has ended its sponsorship of its men’s and women’s cycling teams, I think everyone — besides being a little saddened by the news — has taken a trip down memory lane and come up with some of their best recollections and stories about the team. After 11 years and countless race wins and national championships, everyone will have their own special memories about the team. In looking back, it seems to me that one aspect of the team’s incredible history has been brushed over: its great success in American cyclo-cross, in particular the dominance of Frank

ONCE team director Manolo Saiz has been ejected from the Vuelta a España for “behavior not in keeping with the spirit of cycling in general and the Vuelta in particular,” after he tried to physically block a television motorcycle during the 19th stage of the race on Friday. Jean-Michel Voets, president of the jury of the race commissaries, announced the decision Friday evening after two hours of deliberation in which race officials reviewed video tapes of Saiz trying to force a motorcycle from riding too close to Roberto Heras after the U.S. Postal rider attacked overall race leader Isidro

Two days to go and Roberto is within striking distance of the golden jersey. With each accent in the course the last few days he has been able to take back some time from Nozal. The uphill time trial tomorrow will decide the race. Although the course is tough and very steep in sections, it may not be long enough for Roberto to take back close to two minutes from Nozal. Over the last week Roberto has become stronger while his rivals have weakened. And we are all hoping there may be a chance he’ll be able to win the race. Yesterday’s stage from Las Rosas-Las Rosas was easy looking on the

Grading the world's: So far, a B

Cipo's leadout man gets a win for himself

Heras and Landis put some time on Nozal

Mark McCormack was among the Saturn strongmen

Race leader Nozal and Gonzalez de Galdeano enter the house of pain

Møller and Simeoni punch it

Can he or can't he? We'll know after tomorrow

It´s not often the little teams can knock off the big Division I powerhouses, but Pedro Diaz Lobato made just the right move to win Thursday´s short and very fast 18th stage around the hills west of Madrid. Lobato jumped ahead of a five-man leading break with 20km to go and held on to claim the biggest victory of his career and give his Paternina team a huge boost in the final week of the Vuelta a España. Paternina´s been riding like a D1 all season, snagging wins at Bicicleta Vasca and the Tour of Cataluyna, but emerging star Jose Antonio Pecharroman pulled out of the Vuelta early with a

Everybody in the peloton is still waiting for an early breakaway to stick and go to the line. It still hasn’t happened and as a result three quarters of the peloton is trying to get in the elusive break. The race is still going from the gun each day and never relents. Because of that, we averaged close to 48kph on a hilly circuit on Wednesday. We have now left the olive groves in the south and are on a train to Madrid. The entire peloton and most of the staff is aboard a bullet train and are headed from Cordoba towards the capital. We’ll be in Madrid for the next four days-until the race’s

Dear Bob;A year or so ago, my apartment was broken into, and my bicycle wasstolen. It was a classic Italian racing bike from the early 1980’s, soI didn’t get all that much money from my insurance company. Recently, I went to a century ride and started riding in a pacelinewith a group of cyclists I didn’t know. As I dropped back from riding onpoint, I looked over, and there was my old bicycle! I followed the guy back to the finish line, got his auto tag numberand called the cops. They say they are looking into it, but nothing sofar. What would have happened if I had just grabbed the bike,

Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske: My stolen bicycle